France

===Music===
{{Main|Music of France}}
[[File:Claude Debussy by Atelier Nadar.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Claude Debussy]]]]
France has a long and varied musical history. It experienced a golden age in the 17th century thanks to Louis XIV, who employed talented musicians and composers in the royal court. The most renowned composers of this period include [[Marc-Antoine Charpentier]], [[François Couperin]], [[Michel-Richard Delalande]], [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] and [[Marin Marais]], all of them composers at the court. After the death of the "Roi Soleil", French musical creation lost dynamism, but in the next century the music of [[Jean-Philippe Rameau]] reached some prestige, and he is still one of the most renowned French composers. Rameau became the dominant composer of [[French opera]] and the leading French composer of the harpsichord.<ref>Girdlestone, Cuthbert (1969). Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work (paperback ed.). Dover. p. 14: "It is customary to couple him with Couperin as one couples Haydn with Mozart or Ravel with Debussy."</ref>

[[Erik Satie]] was a key member of the early-20th-century Parisian [[avant-garde]]. [[Francis Poulenc]]'s best-known works are his piano suite ''[[Trois mouvements perpétuels]]'' (1919), the ballet ''[[Les biches]]'' (1923), the ''[[Concert champêtre]]'' (1928) for [[harpsichord]] and orchestra, the opera ''[[Dialogues des Carmélites]]'' (1957) and the ''[[Gloria (Poulenc)|Gloria]]'' (1959) for [[soprano]], choir and orchestra. [[Maurice Ravel]] and [[Claude Debussy]] are the most prominent figures associated with [[Impressionist music]]. Debussy was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and his use of non-traditional scales and [[chromaticism]] influenced many composers who followed.<ref>{{Cite web |first=Allen |last=Schrott |title=Claude Debussy&nbsp;– Biography&nbsp;– AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/claude-debussy-mn0000768781/biography |website=AllMusic}}</ref> Debussy's music is noted for its sensory content and frequent usage of [[atonality]]. The two composers invented new musical forms<ref>{{Cite web |last=Huizenga |first=Tom |date=14 October 2005 |title=Debussy's 'La Mer' Marks 100th Birthday |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4957580 |access-date=22 July 2011 |publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=12 July 2008 |title=Debussy's Musical Game of Deception |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=92338564 |access-date=22 July 2011 |publisher=NPR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography of Claude Debussy |url=http://www.classicfm.co.uk/music/composers/c-g/claude-debussy/ |access-date=22 July 2011 |publisher=Classicfm.co.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Biography of Maurice Ravel |url=http://www.classicfm.co.uk/music/composers/n-r/maurice-ravel/ |access-date=22 July 2011 |publisher=Classicfm.co.uk}}</ref> and new sounds. Ravel's piano compositions, such as ''[[Jeux d'eau (Ravel)|Jeux d'eau]]'', ''[[Miroirs]]'', ''[[Le tombeau de Couperin]]'' and ''[[Gaspard de la nuit]]'', demand considerable virtuosity. His mastery of orchestration is evident in the ''[[Rapsodie espagnole]]'', ''[[Daphnis et Chloé]]'', his arrangement of [[Modest Mussorgsky]]'s ''[[Pictures at an Exhibition]]'' and his orchestral work ''[[Boléro]]'' (1928). More recently, in the middle of the 20th century, [[Maurice Ohana]], [[Pierre Schaeffer]] and [[Pierre Boulez]] contributed to the evolution of [[contemporary classical music]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schwartz |first=Lloyd |date=24 May 2010 |title=Composer-Conductor Pierre Boulez at 85 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126668117 |access-date=22 July 2011 |publisher=NPR}}</ref>

French music then followed the rapid emergence of pop and rock music in the middle of the 20th century. Although English-speaking creations achieved popularity in the country, [[French popular music|French pop music]], known as ''[[chanson française]]'', has also remained very popular. Among the most important French artists of the century are [[Édith Piaf]], [[Georges Brassens]], [[Léo Ferré]], [[Charles Aznavour]] and [[Serge Gainsbourg]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 April 2003 |title=100人の偉大なアーティスト&nbsp;- No. 62 |trans-title=The 100 Greatest Artists&nbsp;– No. 62 |url=http://www.hmv.co.jp/news/newsDetail.asp?newsnum=304080038 |website=ローチケHMV [Roachke HMV] |language=ja}}</ref> Although there are very few rock bands in France compared to English-speaking countries,<ref>{{Cite web |date=December 2010 |title=Biography of Noir Désir |url=http://www.rfimusic.com/artist/rock/noir-desir/biography |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430102257/http://www.rfimusic.com/artist/rock/noir-desir/biography |archive-date=30 April 2016 |access-date=11 January 2018 |website=rfi Music |publisher=[[Radio France Internationale|RFI]] Musique |quote=Rock music doesn't come naturally to the French. A Latin country, with more affinity to poetry and melody, France has very rarely produced talented rock musicians. Rock music has other, more Anglo-Saxon ingredients: fury, excess, electricity.}}</ref> bands such as [[Noir Désir]], [[Mano Negra (band)|Mano Negra]], [[Niagara (band)|Niagara]], [[Les Rita Mitsouko]] and more recently [[Superbus (band)|Superbus]], [[Phoenix (band)|Phoenix]] and [[Gojira (band)|Gojira]],<ref name="frmusic">{{Cite web |date=22 June 2009 |title=French music has the whole planet singing |url=http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/france_159/culture-and-media_6819/culture_6874/music_5335/french-music-has-the-whole-planet-singing_13031.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101222105333/http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/en/france_159/culture-and-media_6819/culture_6874/music_5335/french-music-has-the-whole-planet-singing_13031.html |archive-date=22 December 2010 |website=France Diplomatie}}</ref> or [[Shaka Ponk]], have reached worldwide popularity.